The LeBron James comparisons to Michael Jordan should stop right now. If James leaves the Miami Heat, the appropriate comparison should be to Deion Sanders.
ESPN.com is reporting that James is leaning toward opting out of his existing contract with the Heat "so that he will maximize his flexibility while putting teams on the clock."
According to ESPN, James wants to continue to win titles because his is sensitive about his legacy but at the same time doesn't care what anyone says or thinks of him anymore. That seems to be a contradiction in terms.
Jordan never needed to go anywhere to continue to collect rings; free agents went to the Chicago Bulls because that's where they knew the rings were going to be passed out. The stint with the Washington Wizards doesn't count because Jordan just wanted to play basketball again; he did not go there expecting to win a championship - nor did anyone expect a championship out of him there.
The ESPN article added that James expressed some bitterness about Heat owner Mickey Arison limiting the team's spending. Other than Chris Bosh, not a lot of big-name free agents have been willing to go to Miami and accept a lesser salary for the chance to win a ring with King James.
So James is trying to leverage another situation in which he brings a collection of talent to a team, any team, to help him win a title.
There was a time in the 1990s that Sanders, the two-sport star (NFL and Major Leage Baseball), was putting himself in positions to play for the NFL teams with the best chance of winning the Super Bowl. He left the Atlanta Falcons in 1993 and helped make the San Francisco 49ers a Super Bowl champion in 1994.
A year later, "Prime Time" took his talents to Southfork (as opposed to South Beach) and won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys. He has as many championship rings as LeBron.
And if LeBron truly doesn't care what people think of him, which doesn't sound to be the case, then he easily can embrace the gun-for-hire role and try to win as many rings as he possibly can. If Robert Horry can win seven, LeBron should be able to come close to that number working as a nomad.
Of course, if James goes to another franchise and works it out to bring enough talent with him to get more titles, then the comparison could shift - based strictly on NBA Finals appearances - to Shaquille O'Neal.
As great as Shaq was in his heyday, he ended up with six teams but made NBA Finals appearances with three franchises - the Orlando Magic, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Heat. He ended up with four rings.
With James' four Most Valuable Player award, to one for the Big Aristotle, James will go down in NBA lore as the better player.
In which case, James' legacy would be more closely matched to those of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Kobe Bryant.
Bird won three titles and lost two during his career with the Boston Celtics, and it was his arrival to the franchise in the 1979-80 season that transformed the downtrodden Celtics into a championship contender.
The Celtics went 29-53 prior to Bird's arrival and won 61 games during his first year there. They won the title during his second year.
Johnson came to a little better situation with the Lakers, who were 47-35 prior to his arrival in 1978-79 and then went 60-22 and won the NBA title during his rookie year. He finished with a 5-4 record in NBA Finals appearances, winning back-to-back in 1987-88.
James is 2-3 in finals appearances, although he should be given more credit for taking the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2007 finals than just an appearance.
If James wants to re-enter the conversation with Jordan, he almost has to stay in Miami or maybe go back to Cleveland. Those are the only two franchises in which winning a title wouldn't prompt critics to say, "Yeah, but. ..."
His press conferences following the Heat's Game 5 loss to the San Antonio Spurs that gave the title to Tim Duncan and company suggested that bearing the brunt of an entire franchise is wearing on James. But he should realize that he'll have that burden wherever he goes.
To earn the right to be compared to Jordan, James has to stop looking at the next opportunity and start creating roots.
To whom do you think LeBron James' legacy should be compared? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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